On May 5, 1862, a French army approached the city of Puebla, Mexico, with intentions of overcoming its defenders and ultimately colonizing Mexico for the emperor Napoleon III of France. An army of guerrilleros under the command of Ignacio Zaragoza, a native of Goliad, Texas, stood between the invaders and their plans. Using proven European tactics of artillery barrages and frontal assaults, the French launched repeated attacks on the fortified city. But the Mexicans held their ground, and the French retreated. Thenceforth, the day of this epic showdown came to be observed as the Cinco de Mayo, both in Mexico and in Greater Mexico, the area in the United States where people of Mexican origin reside
Up until about the 1920s, the Cinco de Mayo celebrations served Mexican-origin residents with a private space and time wherein they reaffirmed their identity as Mexicanos. People recalled their years in the homeland and exalted Mexico for its valiant men and women. The revelers genuinely celebrated their affinity to Cinco de Mayo patriots such as Ignacio Zaragoza and to other heroes like Miguel Hidalgo and Benito Juárez. In segregated zones they proclaimed their pride via open-air oratory, declamations, and recitation of poetry. They dressed up in the native fashions of the homeland, played Mexican music, and sold and bought Mexican foods and delicacies
Historically, the Cinco de Mayo observations have served other functions in Latina and Latino communities across the United States. As a leisure activity, the Cinco de Mayo commemoration offered a respite, or at least a distraction, from the onus of everyday life. As a group spectacle, it became a force for community solidarity. It rallied folks behind shared goals such as financing, with scant nickels and dimes, the cost of the celebration. The Cinco de Mayo anniversary further acted to reinforce the leadership roles of the fiesta coordinators. Common people anointed these organizers as community spokespersons and endorsed them as intermediaries to bring colonial problems to the attention of city hall bureaucrats. Up until the mid-twentieth century, for instance, it was men and women closely identified with Cinco de Mayo and other community affairs who succeeded, however modestly, in getting school boards to attend to special needs of students or local companies to donate to one barrio cause or another
The celebrations became more culturally inclusive during the early decades of the twentieth century. Anglo municipal leaders recognized their potential for serving a larger purpose: the fiestas generated revenue for the city through hall rental fees, and they presented the opportunity for a bit of political campaigning. Young Latinas and Latinos undergoing increasing Americanization by then demanded modernization as well. By the 1920s, some of the new American dance crazes had infiltrated the ceremonies. By World War II the Cinco de Mayo celebrations provided the occasion for selling war bonds, and by the 1950s they had become ideal times for raising scholarship monies. In the early twenty-first century the Cinco de Mayo celebrations serve the original purpose of accentuating the celebrants' dual culture, while inculcating lessons of the past to an increasingly Americanized generation."
Arnoldo De León "Cinco de Mayo" The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States . Suzanne Oboler and Deena J. González. © 2005 Oxford University Press, Inc.. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States : (e-reference edition). Oxford University Press. Southwestern College (CA). 27 April 2012 http://www.oxford-latinos.com/entry?entry=t199.e155
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